Feb 22, 2009

Arithmetic Coding is quite possibly one of the most interesting ideas we've come across for losless file compression in the P3P Brightnet. Not only would this encoding be lossless, but it would reduce an entire file down to a single decimal number.

It may be possible to reduce a 10MB file down to 1MB or lower with this, thus drastically increasing the transfer times over the P3P Network and making it that much more efficient. Of course it all depends on how the algorithm is set up for the filetype compression.

In highest probability, we would have to have a talk with IBM concerning their standing patent on a certain type of Arithmetic Coding, and maybe strike a deal for licensing if possible. But from what we are reading, some of the patent holders do not charge a fee, so we'd have to look into their terms closely before we decide if this is the way to go.

As it stands, the P3P BrightNet system is by far more than adequate to handle the files and traffic, so the arithmetic coding algorithm would act as just an overkill scenario.

Just as a heads up, no it's not a typo. We really do mean P3P and not P2P or the soon to be P4P (which is pretty useless). P3P BrightNet is the term used for the Andromeda3D Network Backbone and is more efficient than normal P2P while also being better capable than even P4P. Keep in mind that this P3P BrightNet is not going to be falling into the hands of an ISP anytime soon. In an effort to remain neutral with P2P sharing and routing, we're building the protocols and rulesets into the browser so that it will automatically handle the traffic without intervention from the ISP or from A3D as a company.

Feb 13, 2009

Recently, news about the good fortune of Jooce.com came wandering into our email inbox. As it so happens, Jooce.com announced to their users that they are in the process of being acquired by another company. During that transition, they will be taking the storage capabilities offline while they sort things out and finalize the deal.

In the meantime, until told otherwise, the prior agreement between Jooce.com and A3D is still in effect.

In Other News -

Forums have undergone some upgrades and fixes, as well as some new Beta information being posted. We look forward to your comments :)

Feb 2, 2009

As we have stated earlier, some work and research has been ongoing concerning the usage of a shader skin as the default for the avatars. Of course, we will permit the application of skin textures if a designer is wanting better fidelity for an avatar. Now that the skin shader is looking up to par, the next thing on the list happens to be the Hair aspect.

This in turn leads us to a ton of current application and research from nVidia concerning doing hair as a shader. Since our expected release for Andromeda to the public is estimated around 18 - 24 months (give or take), it is well within reason to assume that we are designing the system to take advantage of future technologies which haven't yet become mainstream. When programming a system, it is always a good rule of thumb to design it with computers 18 - 24 months from today in mind as the entry system.

While the high end computers of today look like monsters, with a pricetag to boot, keep in mind that if you follow Moore's Law of Accellerating Returns then in 18 - 24 months the high end computers of today will end up being bargain bin computers sold at Wal-Mart.

Epic Updates and Forum Migration

New year, new servers, new scripts, and yes - even new issues to tackle. Our forum overlord, GSK, is currently busy migrating the forums to a new and theoretically unlimited server system. This in itself may take a few days to complete - but the complete backup of the forums as well as additional scripts and additions he has planned for our patrons will take some time to implement.

For the time being, we assume that the forums will be back online within a few days, but the remaining 90% of the work will take a few weeks to actually complete. On the list of things to do is to reinstate the arcade challenge system once and for all. A slew of other additions and goodies are in the works as well, so keep an eye out in the following days/weeks.

Where in the World is Darian?

After some rough weather in the northern regions (Tri-State Area), Darian has found himself migrating down the east coast where he currently finds himself hanging out at Vero Beach, Florida. Next stop after this is Georgia where he'll finally set foot back home. For the time being, he's on a forced vacation and is forbidden from thinking about work for awhile (thought we know this is next to impossible for him)

Paperwork by the buttload :P

As we move into the corporate phase of A3D, there happens to be a lot of paperwork that is required to be completed. Business Plans, Financial Projections, PowerPoint Presentations, Prospectus, and of course a laundry list of other paperwork to be completed by deadlines. We do apologize for the communications blackout over the past month or so, but we are making progress still with a number of things we cannot really go into detail at the moment.

Jooce Acquired?

Of course, all good things eventually get bought up by bigger companies. If you have tried to use your Jooce account over the past week, you would have noticed that your account probably is turned off at the moment. Rest assured, your Jooce accounts should still be available coming up soon. We received an email recently informing that Jooce is currently being acquired by another company, and that the service will be temporarily unavailable for a few weeks.

As a matter of course, a follow-up email has been sent to the CEO of Jooce in order to get some details about this acquisition and how it would possibly effect the partnership between Jooce and A3D going forward. More details will be released going forward as they become available to us.

Quellertech VRFTP

The VRFTP (Virtual Reality File Transfer Protocol) is nearing completion and posting for the Beta Team to download and use. Essentially this component of the A3D browser will allow you to do what you normally would with an FTP program, but as an added feature, it renders the folders on an FTP as Rooms filled with files. This in turn will allow you to literally walk around an FTP server in 3D (as well as walk around your local hard drive too).

So what is this good for (other than the cool factor)? For those of your who know all too well about Active Worlds and the many Object Yards that litter the virtual landscape, this might come as a god-send to you. Being able to log into the OP FTP and actually walk around the Object Path dynamically will first and foremost create instant Object Yards without the need to waste space with actually building Object Yards manually.

There are obviously other benefits to having the VRFTP component in A3D, but we'll let our Beta Team find out for themselves.

When the forums come back online, we will make it a point to post some new materials for everyone to check out, so keep an eye out for what's coming up soon ;)